A Stockton family are lucky to be alive after a huge blaze ripped through their back garden.

Fire crews were called to the home on Kimblesworth Walk, in Hardwick , in the early hours after a shed caught fire.

Luckily no one was seriously injured in the blaze that saw the windows of the rented home blown out and flames reach up to 20ft.

Nicola Teesdale, 31, who lives at the home with her boyfriend and three children, believes the accidental fire may have been down to a family barbecue on Monday afternoon.

Nicola said the barbecue had finished in the late evening and three buckets of water had been poured over it before she, her boyfriend Carl Mahoney, 38, and her close friend Kirsty Doneghy, 30, headed into the house to go to bed at around 10pm.

The next thing she remembers is being woken as fire crews were outside after being called by her step-dad and neighbour, Terry Wilkinson.

Fire damaged property at Kimblesworth Walk, Hardwick

Nicola said: “My step-dad who lives next door saw the fire and tried to put as much of it out as he could with the garden hose.

“He was shouting for me to wake up but when he realised we weren’t waking up he rang the fire brigade.

“We got woken up and we were evacuated along with all the other neighbours, I couldn’t believe what was happening, I’m still in total shock.

“I have a cut on my nose from where the bedroom windows were blown out.”

Thankfully, Nicola’s three young children were not at home and no one who was seriously hurt.

Fire damaged property at Kimblesworth Walk, Hardwick

She added: “I just can’t stop thinking about what could have happened if my kids were at home, luckily they were at their dad’s.

“I have no idea how the shed caught fire, it must have been a spark from the barbecue but it was all put out with water.

“The carpet that was inside the shed was supposed to be fire-proof too but that somehow caught fire - the flames were about 20 foot high.

“We were really lucky because there were Calor gas bottles and the kids’ motorbikes in the garden that were recently taken out too.”

There was significant damage to the back garden and the fire destroyed decking and parts of the home.

A spokesman for Cleveland Fire Brigade said crews from Thornaby and Stockton were called to the blaze at around 4.45am today and several neighbours had to be evacuated until around 6.45am1